How much food does a whale need?

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Sarah Hall, Stourbridge, West Midlands Krill are little pink shrimp-like creatures and whales, penguins, seals and many seabirds in Antarctica depend on them for their basic food. Krill swim in massive swarms and these can be so big they can be spotted by ships radar. The largest whale to visit the Southern Ocean for the summer is the blue whale which reaches a maximum length of about 30 metres and a weight of 150 200 tonnes. During the 24 hours of daylight in January, blue whales never seem to stop eating. Each day they catch 3 4 percent of their own body weight in krill. For a 150 tonne blue whale, that means up to 4.5 tonnes of krill EVERY DAY for 6 months. The daily intake of a blue whale would feed a human for about 4 years!